Clearers



Feb. 21, 1956 D, NOILES 2,735,142

CLEARERS Filed June 17, 1954 69 82 [FIG 761e 8o .Nn-T40 sa SED/46 O l l l u l l u I IN1/o [FIG United States Patent "O CLEARERS Douglas G. Noiles, Kennebunk, Maine, assignor to Saco- Lowell Shops, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application June 17, 1954, Serial No. 437,415

7 Claims. (Cl. 19-139) This invention relates to drafting mechanisms and more particularly to revolving at clearers for drafting f ing rolls comparatively free from lint and fly, a cloth clearer belt may be stretched across the upper surfaces of the entire series of top rolls where it rests lightly on them and wipes off the fly carried by them, such belt preferably being both driven to provide a relatively slow movement thereof and having cleaning means associated therewith for continuous removal of lint and ily from the moving surface of the clearer.

Such revolving at clearers can be quite effective in their cleaning action, especially when driven in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the drafting roll surfaces upon which they rest. However, the driving of such cloth clearer belts has long been a problem in the art, since the fabric of which they are commonly made has an easily damaged surface which could not be successfully driven against the friction due to the drafting roll surfaces by the means heretofore known to the art without damaging the belt fabric. Accordingly, revolving at clearers have not gone into universal use in spite of their known effectiveness, and whatever usage does `exist has been limited to roll systems where the cloth clearer belt can be stretched tight to provide tractive friction against the driving roll. On contemporary controlled draft drawing systems, which employ rolls of unequal diameters, it is not possible to run the belt tight, and, hence, heretofore the diculties of driving the belt have precluded the use of the revolving belt clearer on many of the modern drawing elements.

The present invention is especially concerned with the above-described problem and it aims to devise a thoroughly practical solution thereto. The nature of the inl vention will be readily understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof when read in connection withthe accompanying drawings and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

' Fig. -l' is a vertical transverse sectional view through a drawing frame equipped with a clearer mechanism embodying this invention;

Fig. 2` is an elevational view of my novel means for driving the cloth clearer belt; and l 4 Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of said means for driving the cloth clearer belt as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring first to Fig. l, the drawing mechanism there shown comprises a roll stand 12 having mounted thereon a series of four bottom drafting rolls 14, 16, 18, and 20, respectively, and three cooperating upper or top drafting rolls 22, 24, and 26 running in contact with and driven by the respective bottom rolls just mentioned. The particular number and arrangement of the drafting rolls is immaterial so far as this invention is concerned. The cloth clearer belt 30 is preferably in the form of an endless loop of textile fabric either woven or felted, and is supported and driven by rolls within the loop thereof including a rear driving roll generally designated 32, a front supporting roll 34, and preferably a middle supporting roll 36, said clearer belt also preferably having within its loop a supporting plate 40. The rear driving'roll 32 has its shaft 33 rotatably mounted in upstanding brackets 42 on roll stand 12 and in turn supports a cover 44 for swinging movement about the axis of roll 32, said cover having mounted on the sides thereof adjustable brackets 46 and 48 in which are mounted supporting rolls 34 and 36, respectively. v e

According to this invention, the boss portion 38 of driving roll 32 has card clothing 50 mounted on its peripheral surface with the large number of sharp, resilient pins 32 covering one surface of said clothing extending outwardly to engage with the cloth clearer belt 30, the upper portion of said pins 52 above their knee preferably being bent in the direction of movement lof said roll' 32 and belt 30. The card clothing 50 may be mounted on driving roll boss 38 by winding a narrowstrip thereof helically around said boss and securing the ends thereof to driving roll shaft 33 as by machine screws 35..

Suclrnovel clearer belt driving roll construction for the rst time provides eifective belt driving in addirectionl opposite to the direction of movement of the drafting roll surfaces contacting said belt without either slippageor substantial damage to the cloth clearer belt, the relatively large number of pins passing into the surface or nap of the cloth belt far enough to provide optimum belt driving and yet not penetrating the belt to such anr extent as would wear or damage the belt. It will be understood, that although we prefer to employ card clothingY for the pincovered surface of driving roll 32, other types of pin surfaces may be equally effective.

Clearer belt driving roll 32 is driven preferably from rocking shaft 54 mounted in suitable bearings 56 on roll stand 12 (such rocking shaft being that shaft commonly used in drawing frames for actuating the stop motion) through a ratchet mechanism including a rocking shaft lever 58 and a pawl lever 60 hingedly mounted thereto at one end with its other end rotatably mounted on drivingl roll shaft 33 for rocking movement relatively thereto. A moving spring pawl 62 is mounted on said pawl lever'60, cooperating with a fixed pawl 64 mounted on upstanding bracket 42 to engage and rotate a toothed ratchet wheel 66 mounted on driving roll shaft 33 and rotatable there-- with. Other means for rotating belt driving roll 32 in the preferred direction at a suitably slow speed of about a revolution per minute'to provide a speed yof movement of the clearer belt of a few inches a minute may alternatively ybe used.

In order to provide means for continuously cleaningv they surface of the slowly moving clearer belt 30, as is preferred, a reciprocating comb 68 having supporting side members 69 is provided to engage Vthe upper surface of `belt 30 as it passes over supporting plate 40, said comb being reciprocated in a direction to and fro along the direction of movement of belt 30 by means of a camming mechanism interposed between the belt vdriving roll 32 and said comb 68. cludes a toothed cam 70 mounted on and rotatable with driving roll 32 and cooperating with a cam follower 72 pivotally mounted on the side of cover 44, such cam follower being yieldingly urged into contact with cam 70 by a spring 74 and being adjustably connected to comb supporting members 69 by a link 76 pivoted at one end to cam follower 72 and adjustably connected to said comb Such camming mechanism in' supporting` members 69 so that said comb supporting members 69 with comb 68 may be pivotally adjusted about link pivots 78 by means of machine screws 80 and slots 82.

In operation, with the drafting rolls being. rotated in the usual manner to draft ber therebetween,` and with the rocking shaft 54 being operated to swing lever 58 back and forth through a limited arc to swing pawl lever 60 and rotate clearer belt driving roll 32 to drive clearer belt 30 in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the surfaces of the drafting rolls which it contacts, as shown by the arrows in the drawings, clearer belt 30 is moved at a slow speed of a few inches a minute to'continuously clean the ily and lint from the drafting rolls. At the same time, comb 61S is reciprocated through its camming mechanism to pick up the lint and ily from the surface of said belt, the lint and ily accumulatedon said comb being removed from time to time by an operator. If at any time it is desired to remove the clearer belt 30 from contact with the drafting rolls, as is necessary when piecing up, clearer-frame 44 may be swung upwards while the mechanism is in operation for ready access tothe drafting rolls, and then may be lowered again to its operating position to put it back in use.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be evident that the invention may be embodied in other forms such as, forV example, a clearer beneath a set of drawing rolls without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope ofthe appended claims, for example, the invention will be found usefulV in drafting mechanisms other than drawing mechanisms.

I- claim:

1. In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting rolls, an' endless looped clearer belt contacting said drafting rolls,V belt supporting and driving means including roll means mounted within the loop of said belt for supporting said belt in contact with the surfaces of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt, said belt supporting andl driving roli means having a plurality of closely spaced, resilient and sharp belt driving pins mounted on and extending throughout its peripheral surface and extending outwardly therefrom to engage the surface of said endless belt far enough only to drive said belt, and means for rotating said belt supporting and driving roll means to drive said belt.

2. In a drafting mechanism as claimedA in claim l, in which said belt is driven in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of said drafting roll surfaces.

V3. In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting rolls, an endless looped clearer belt contacting said drafting rolls, belt supporting and driving means including roll means mounted within the loop of said belt for supporting said belt in contact with the surfaces of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt, said belt supporting `and driving roll means having a plurality of closely spaced,

resilient and sharp belt driving pins mounted on and ex-` tending throughout its peripheral surface and extending outwardly therefrom to engage the surface of said endless belt far enough only to drive said belt, meansfor rotatsaid belt in Contact with the surfaces of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt, said belt supportingand driving roll means having a plurality of closely spaced, resilient and sharp belt driving pins mounted on and extending throughout its peripheral surface and extending outwardly therefrom to engage with the Surface only of said endless belt to drive said belt, said belt driving pins being bent in the direction of movement ofsaid belt, and means for rotating said belt supporting and driving roll means to drive said belt.

5. In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting rolls, an endless looped clearer belt contacting said drafting rolls, belt supporting and driving means vmounted within the loop of said belt for supporting said belt in contact with the surfaces -of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt, said belt driving and supporting roll means including a roll having card clothing mounted on its peripheral surfaces with the closely spaced, resilient and sharp pins of said card clothing extending outwardly to engage the surface only of said endless belt to drive said belt, and means for rotating said belt supporting and driving roll means to drive said belt.

6. In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting rolls, an endless loopedclearer'belt contacting said draftingrolls, belt supporting and driving means including roll means mounted within the loop of said belt for supporting said belt in contact with the surfaces of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of said drafting roll surfaces,

ing said belt supporting and driving roll means to drive said belt, and means driven from said belt supporting'and driving roll means for cleaning said belt. i

4. In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting rolls, an endless looped clearer belt contacting said drafting rolls, belt supporting and driving means including roll means mounted within the loop of said belt for supporting belt driving roll to drive said belt.

7. `In a drafting mechanism having a series of drafting i rolls, an endless looped fabric clearer `belt overlying and contacting said drafting rolls, belt supporting and drivingmeans including roll means mounted within the loop of said belt for supportingV said belt in contact with the surfaces of said drafting rolls and for driving said belt in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of said drafting roll surfaces, said roll means including a belt supporting roll mounted within the loop of said apron and a belt driving roll mounted within the loop of said beltY and spaced from said belt supporting roll, said belt driving'roll having card clothing mounted on its peripheral surface with the closely spaced, resilient and sharp pins of said card clothing extending outwardly to engage the surface only of said endless belt to drive said belt means' for rotating said beltv driving roll to drive said belt, and means for cleaning said belt including reciprocating comb means engaging the surface of said belt, and camming means for reciprocating said comb means driven Vby said b elt driving roll.

` References Cited inthe tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 329,320 Learned Oct. 27, 1885 t,681,875 Penney Aug. 2l, i928 FOREIGN PATENTS u 219,244 Great Britain July-24,v 1.924 324,53() Great Britain Ian. 30, 1930 4255912 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1935 

